FORT WAYNE (AP) — An Indiana law aimed at curbing methamphetamine production already restricts the sale of some over-the-counter cold medicine used to make meth. Now there's a growing push for a stronger law that would make pseudoephedrine available only by a doctor's prescription.
Indiana legislators will study the regulation of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in a committee this summer and could take up recommendations for Indiana in the next legislative session. Vigo County in western Indiana is leading the effort for tougher pseudoephedrine laws and has asked pharmacies to voluntarily stop selling the medication without a prescription.
Supporters of such laws say they keep a key ingredient out of the hands of meth producers. But opponents say there are other ways to deter illegal use of the legal drugs.
The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reports that Oregon and Mississippi have passed laws to require prescriptions for the drug found in some cold medicines.
The Oregon Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, which advocated for the change, says the 2006 Oregon law has produced substantial results — meth makers have stopped traveling from pharmacy to pharmacy buying as much pseudoephedrine as possible, and meth labs declined. The alliance says from November 2006 to November 2008, Oregon saw a 31 percent drop in drug arrests, with nearly all of that drop meth-related.
But don't expect retailers to agree to an Indiana law without a fight.
Police in Vigo County asked local pharmacies to voluntarily require prescriptions for the cold medicines starting July 1. Sheriff Jon Marvel joined Terre Haute police to commend eight area pharmacies who agreed to make the change, and Marvel at the time that "corporate greed" among national retail chains is an underlying reason why more retailers don't join the effort.
Retailers objected to the characterization, saying electronic tracking of pseudoephedrine sales would be a more effective way to curb meth while still allowing legal consumers to buy medicine they choose. Grant Monihan of the Indiana Retail Council said chain pharmacies follow state and federal laws about the sale of pseudoephedrine, and that changing procedures in one county could cause confusion for customers.
"We appreciate the concerns expressed by law enforcement, but to suggest you make it by prescription only is more complicated than they realize," Monihan told the Tribune-Star of Terre Haute last week.
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company will continue making pseudoephedrine available without a prescription unless the law prohibits it.
Indiana has long discussed tracking pseudoephedrine sales in a statewide database, and other states have tried tracking.
But Sgt. Chris Gallagher of the Terre Haute Police Department said tracking isn't a solution.
"Tracking is nothing more than reactionary," he told The Journal Gazette. "It is nothing more than a record of our failures."
Gallagher said he's seen the toll meth has taken on his community in the last 15 years, including babies born addicted to meth. He supports making pseudoephedrine by prescription only.
"It's obvious to anybody and everybody who's involved in this that this is the only way to solve the problem," Gallagher said.
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